[10] Moving to Soria with his family at the age of two, Iglesias was raised in the latter provincial capital until he was 13 years old, studying in CP Numancia, Infantes de Lara and Las Pedrizas.

[12][13] A member of the Global Resistance Movement [es] by the turn of the century,[14] he then took part in anti-globalization protests extolling civil disobedience.

[20][23] Since the early-2000s, Iglesias was involved with the Center for Political and Social Studies Foundation (CEPS) and spent a time in the executive board of the organisation.

[35] In January 2013,[36] the broadcasting of Fort Apache was started; the TV show, produced by 360 Global Media and CMI and funded by the Iranian government's HispanTV,[37] featured from 2013 to 2019 a weekly discussion on hot political subjects moderated by Iglesias.

[39] This marked a breaking point, as the doors to mainstream media opened for Iglesias (until then mostly known in restricted circles),[39] gaining a certain public visibility.

In October 2013, he was given the "Enfocados" prize by the Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication of the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid[40] for his contribution to social change, which he shared with Ignacio Escolar and Jordi Évole in the individual category.

By late 2013, after an informal dinner at Raúl Camargo's residence, which Iglesias, Miguel Urbán, and Jorge Moruno attended, the idea of launching a platform for the 2014 European Parliament election began to take form.

[42] Days after the issuing of the Mover ficha: convertir la indignación en cambio político ("Moving the counter: converting indignation into political change") manifesto on 14 January 2014,[43] Iglesias presented, along with other people and groups, the Podemos movement,[44] intending to run in the European election.

[47][48] As an MEP, Iglesias served in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Human Rights and in the vice-chair of the Delegation for relations with Mercosur.

[51] Broadcast until 2020, through the years Iglesias interviewed more than 150 individuals, including the likes of Thomas Piketty, Toni Negri, Manuel Castells, Baltasar Garzón, Dilma Rousseff, Owen Jones, Ahed Tamimi, Guilherme Boulos, Nancy Fraser or José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

[54] Following the results of the May 2015 local elections, and the ensuing success of the lists tacitly endorsed by Podemos in the big cities, Iglesias deemed the new municipal governments in Madrid and Barcelona, presided by Manuela Carmena and Ada Colau respectively, as models in order to "start the (political) change" in the country.

A few days later the journalists Eduardo Inda (Okdiario's chief editor) and Antonio García Ferreras accused Iglesias of allegedly having received illegal funding from the Venezuelan government via a tax haven.

Pablo Iglesias bid to repeat as Secretary-General of the party, winning in the leadership vote in which the only challenger he faced was Juan Moreno Yagüe (89% vs.

In May 2018, just after the Audiencia Nacional delivered the sentence condemning the People's Party as participant of the Gürtel corruption scheme "on a lucrative basis" and the ensuing filing PSOE parliamentary group of a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for 1 June 2018, Iglesias announced that shall the latter motion fail Podemos would file another one just for the purpose of immediately calling for a new general election; this move has been attributed to the will to force the 'yes' vote of the MPs of the Basque Nationalist Party (in principle hostile to new elections and favouring abstention instead); the 'yes' votes of the Basque MPs ultimately determined the success of the motion.

[78][79][80] The protocol, established for the smooth functioning of the coalition government, signed by PSOE and Podemos envisaged Iglesias quitting the role of host in TV shows such as Otra vuelta de tuerka and Fort Apache when he became Deputy Prime Minister.

[85] During a regional election debate the next day, Vox candidate Rocío Monasterio stated that she believes these threats weren't real.

[86] Accusing her of normalising political violence, Iglesias walked out of the debate, as did PSOE's Ángel Gabilondo and Más Madrid's Mónica García.

[87] President of Madrid Isabel Díaz Ayuso, a member of the People's Party, later published and deleted a tweet endorsing Monasterio's statements.

5] In August 2015, Iglesias endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election[n. 6] He has declared himself a defender of the Venezuelan Bolivarian government several times and has stated his admiration for the policies of Hugo Chávez.

[105][106] In 2018 Iglesias and his domestic partner and Minister of Equality of Spain Irene Montero were accused of hypocrisy after purchasing a villa worth 600,000 euro in a suburb of Madrid.